BICOM

An article in today’s Haaretz newspaper reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed willingness to order a partial freeze on construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, in return for agreement by the Palestinian Authority to resume direct negotiations. Haaretz quotes a ‘senior Israeli official’ who told the paper that the proposal was relayed to Abbas by Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin, who visited Israel this week.

According to the report, Abbas told Holguin he did not oppose a resumption of negotiations with Israel, but that Netanyahu would have to take certain steps regarding settlement construction, which would allow Abbas to present the gesture to the Palestinian public as an accomplishment. Holguin relayed this message to Netanyahu the following day. The reports suggests that Netanyahu said he would be willing to freeze construction by the government and halt construction on government owned land in the settlements, but that he would not freeze construction by private developers on privately owned land. The government is responsible for only a relatively small amount of construction in these areas, the greater part of which is carried out by private developers.

The Haaretz article also noted a statement by Netanyahu, according to which in his view the PA is merely using the settlement issue as an excuse not to return to negotiations, because it has decided on a strategy of seeking approval for statehood at the United Nations. The prime minister added that his government has built less in the settlements than its predecessors. However, he said that he was willing to test Abbas’s intentions by making the gesture regarding settlements.

The Prime Minister’s Office in response to the report said that Netanyahu had not offer an additional freeze and that Israel’s position had not changed – an immediate start to direct talks with the Palestinian Authority with no preconditions.